Many customers that are affected by the fee increase, are being told to wait until another billing cycle. We know this is incorrect information that is being forwarded to customer service… we’re trying to track down how that happened.

As of yesterday, Media Relations confirmed once again that you should be able to cancel now, sans ETF, regardless of your bill cycle. However, they are looking into the situation further to understand why people are having issues.

Customers are encouraged to call customer service back if they do not get approved, or are told to wait for their next bill cycle.

The issue appears to stem from a memo issued to customer service, which we are trying to obtain, as is Sprint Media Relations. There are too many possible reasons to address why customer service is routinely denying affected customers, but we will follow-up once Sprint completes their investigation.

Christopher Price is the Founding Editor of PhoneNews.com. Today, he leads the team building Console, Inc. - a new kind of Android™ device. He still likes to pontificate... a lot. You can visit his personal blog at ChristopherPrice.net.

He’re they go again lying to the customer, this is how they began losing millions of customers in the first place. Well, they might as go out with a blaze of embarasement instead of this slow death. With their impressive lineupof 3 phones that everyone else has too.

@Rob
I think all sprint customers were affected. Just check your bill from december. On the left side of the bill there are announcements and news from sprint. My bill had it there. If you still can’t find it then check the regulatory fee from december and compare it to the january bill. It changed from .20 to .40.

@Frank
You can say that again! Not only do they have the same phones as everyone else but the phones on the other companies have added features that sprint doesn’t have. Not to mention they charge more for the same phone. I guess they think with their low prices on the plan they can justify raising the price on the phone. They better start releasing some more phones soon or verizon and att are going to eat them up alive. Even T-mobile has better phones and are getting ready to release the HTC HD2.
The way things are going I will probably end up canceling 2 of my 3 lines that i have left with them and switch to verizon to get the google nexxus. I can just keep my wife on the 1 line thats on sero since she doesn’t care what phone she has and you can’t beat the monthly price.
Good luck sprint!

I signed up with Sprint to receive an email notice when my bill is due each month. I have not been sent a notice on the fee increase, so i asked if all were affected. Details of my Dec bill show Sprint Surcharges, Regulatory Fee as $0.20. I don’t want to wait too long to start the early termination process.

Quick question folks: In terms of ASL accounts, are we eligible to opt out of a contract with no ETF as well? I got a notice that a $4.99 a month fee will be applied to my bill. Given that itâ€™s not in my original contract, I would think I could cancel my account as well.

The .20 regulatory fee is one thing..(Although I do indeed follow and agree with the principle of the matter) but 5 bucks a month more? Câ€™mon man.

Yes, you have to set up the Verizon account, and call Sprint to have the ETF cancelled. Then call Verizon and complete the port-in. Finally, call Sprint back again to confirm that the account has been closed and the ETF not charged.

Just wanted to say thanks to this site. I’d been hoping to get out of my contract for awhile now. Followed the instructions here and was done in about 10 minutes, no questions asked. Went into another carriers store and had my number ported to my new phone in no time.

FYI: you don’t need to set up the new carrier account before calling in. The Sprint CSR just informed me that I had till the 18th to have my number ported. Once the new carrier ports the number, the Sprint account is done.

Ok so this site is so helpful, i have read other sites where the information was good but hard to understand.. let alone tell a sprint rep. Well anyways..i have had sprint since 12/2008 and would regularly see outrageous charges for data, txt and picture mail (which are blocked from my phones; so when i found out about possibly canceling without ETF i was skeptical. So i called sprint and talked to cancellation dept first and was able to cancel my contract without having to pay etf. I talked to a sprint cancellation rep Eric who was so helpful.. he set my contract to cancel on the next billing cycle which is Feb (next month)! So thank you for having such a straight forward website with helpful information! But we will see come Feb 10th next month if Sprint holds up the promise of no ETF ….

Thank you for all the useful information posted here. I am happy to report that after 2 web chats and 4 phones calls I was successful. The first call earlier this month I was told I needed to call back after I got my bill. The second call a few days ago I was told I was not affected by the regulatory fee increase. I chatted and the representative confirmed I was affected, but had to call in to disconnect. The next representative on the phone confirmed I was affected, but could not cancel until my billing statement was received. I tried to escalate, but her supervisor was not in the office today. I called back and confirmed that the account manager I was speaking to did have a supervisor available. She pushed real hard for the “Real Reason” I wanted to cancel. I stuck to my statement about a material change to the contract. I then received the same statement that I had to wait for my bill. I quoted the statement above “[Sprint]Media Relations confirmed once again that you should be able to cancel now, sans ETF, regardless of your bill cycle.” I escalated and she got approval from her manager to cancel. So it is true, if you are not successful, call back and escalate if necessary.

So I just got off the phone with someone over at Sprint. They told me to go ahead and port over my number, then I will be billed an ETF but to call them back, with a case number, saying that I cancelled over the regulatory fee and for them to look at their knowledge base system for reference.

So with that being said, I’ve already got a new phone and I am porting over tonight. Hopefully all will go to plan.

When I called Sprint after porting, she told me it would take 3-5 days to credit out the ETF. I could call back then and verify if I wanted. She gave me her name/Sprint ID #, and a ref # for my transaction. She also told me to check my next (last) bill to verify. Offered to transfer me to resolutions if I was not happy. I said I am happy, so far.

Yeah…kind of odd that we all seem to be getting different techniques from different reps.
The guy I spoke with new exactly what I was asking about, laid it out straight and there was zero confusion. I did not need to call back after porting, and when I checked my account online after I ported one of mt two numbers, that phone/number is off my account. When I check the contract fulfillment date of the non ported line, it says “contract ended 1/12/2010. My final bill is still there (I need to pay it) and there is no ETF charges on there.

I called just a while ago, spent about a hour on the phone with an agent Andy & a supervisor Donna/LV773060 (hold time is more than the talk time, so there arenâ€™t much bullets flying around, and I didnâ€™t call out names).

Long story short, I bought up the fact on regulatory charge changes, so I want to terminate my contract. Andy said thatâ€™s not possible. I quote the contracts. he puts me on holdâ€¦.. then comes back, say Yes, I can get out w/o the ETF, BUT the only way to do that, is to cancel my Sprint contract w/ them. I had read everywhere said thatâ€™s NOT necessary, so asked to speak with a supervisor.
on holdâ€¦.. pickup, ask me to holdâ€¦..
on holdâ€¦. pickup againâ€¦ hold againâ€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦..
(do that 2 more times)
finally a lady named Donna/LV773060, she said the samething as Andy did. at that point, I am too piss to talk, feeling they are bullying me. so I said, sure, letâ€™s continue with the process.

I waited for 15 minutes, checked my status on the phone at Sprint.com, I still showing May 2011 expirenation date, unlike someone said thatâ€™ll change in few minutes. So I think those 2 fellows screwed me somewhere, somehow that I had to call Sprint againâ€¦ @#$%)^&*()*

the funny thing is, I actually like my Sprint contract, been w/ Sprint since 1995. All I want is out of the current contract, and maybe hook me up with a smartphone (HTC Hero maybe?), within Sprint. But now, I am going to T-Mobile or just a pre-paid plan.

thanks alot, great service you lusy Sprint CS. Too make matter worse, they stated that SPRINT (as a whole), is not allowed, AND WILL NEVER do such a thing, that lot customer off the contract w/o ETF, and let them go month-by-monthâ€¦. I guess about 2000x post I read so far, all branch of liars??? can someone back me up on this?

oh, yeah, I fill out the contact us at PhoneNews.com thing here, I love to see how this is goingâ€¦

I see on my Nov-Dec bill a $.60 reg fee………so am I to wait for Jan bill to come to me, and see if the reg fee moved up or down? BTW my billing cycle is at the end of the month. So this doesnt leave me much time to act…..suggestions?

i called yesterday and was told that i had till march 15 to decide what i wanted to do.. and that them raising the regulatory fee does void the contract so users can leave without paying the ETF. i checked with 2 people on separate calls and received the same answer, regarding the ETF.

to address the guy above.. if you choose to cancel your service with sprint because of this “petty” change as they call it then it is true that they dont want your business. thus, you can not cancel your contract and move to a month-to-month format. if you cancel.. you’re gone.

I called Sprint and of course got the attitude about why someone would cancel over 20 cents. They tried to get me to admit that I was cancelling because of other reasons. It really was the 20 cents! Their attitude about the whole thing has made me even more happy about leaving.

I called and got two different reps that told me the same thing: port out your numbers and then call back and we will waive the fee. Well, I went to check my bill and it will not let me have access anymore online. So I called and was told that they did charge the fee. I was then transferred to a woman who made a case and gave me the number and said that someone will contact me within 48 hours. Sorry- not good enough. I am calling back. I want this resolved today.

I called to cnx, and Sprint agreed and tehy made account notes. Then I ported my number and called back. They said they can’t credit the ETF out yet because it has not been charged on the (final) bill. I waited for the bill to be ready and called back. The Sprint rep now said he will fill out the proper ETF credit paperwork, but it takes 48 hrs for the ETF to come off. I asked for a transaction number for this conversation and for his Sprint ID number. So, I’m waiting….

Each time I called Sprint they wanted to know why I was cancelling, but never hassled me about my reason. I explained about the material change to the contract, but then asked the rep to pull up the acct notes. I said the last rep I talked with said he was making notes of our conversation, and then I asked, “Is that what the acct notes say?” Then they read the notes. I got a ref# for the conversation and the rep’s Sprint ID number for every call I made.

This site has been very helpful! I have a nextel phone.. get crappy service.. have 4 mos left of this and sprint said that I would be able to cancel for 50.00 if i signed up before a certain time.. that was one phone call….. then i called back talked to someone else that told me it would be 40.00. So I thought that i would cancel my service for the 40- my service stinks where i live! So now on the third call.. they tell me that i should switch to sprint network because that would be better for my area and better service for me. OK.. so now the run around… I don’t want a service that i can’t get good reception with… called back.. now on 4th call.. told them I want to terminate my service, that I have just had it.. with them.. ohhhhhhh noooo.. today it was well that will be 200- to terminate the service.. but that maybe i should go to a different phone with nextel.. but actually nextel is the best reception for my area! REALLY PEOPLE? which is it? everytime it is a diff answer.. and now i have a call into the “esscalation dept” that deals with the ETF’s. BUT.. they are not there today.so someone will have to call you back.. why can’t they just cancel my stinken acct. let me go to a reliable service like VERIZON? how can sprint have a diff. answer everytime i call! what to do?

I called Sprint and told them I wanted out of my contract because of the increase in the regulatory fee and that I didn’t want to pay the ETF and they said OK right away. They asked me if that was the only reason and I said yes. The rep admitted that the fee increase broke the contract. They did offer me a $20/month discount if I would extend my contract for another 2 years but I politely said no. I was only on the phone for about 10 minutes.

Just called today. I have another year on my contract. The rep offered a $10/month discount if I would finish this contact. Not really motivated to change carrier at this time, I took the offer. The 5 min call saved me 120 dollars, not too bad. Thank you guys for the information.

I have had sprint for the last five years or so. I have or rather had two lines of service through them. In September of last year, I decided to call them to see if I could change my plan to cheaper plan — the first rep said no problem we can do that, but then ran in to a problem. She said she would call me back within five minutes, an hour later, I called back. The second time, the representative changed my plan and told me to call back in a few days to confirm the changes had been made. I call back a week later and was told, my plan had not been changed, only because I had instintcs on both lines of service and the plan I originally had to begin with was the cheapest I could be on.

So, at that point, I am livid. I was lied to twice, no one ever called me back to let me know that I could not have the plan that was quoted to me. I asked to speak with a supervisor, one was not available — they escalated my situation to executive services. They called me back within 24 hours and I was told I had been let out of my contract early, basically telling me I could go wherever I wanted to because of this entire situation.

A few days later, my birthday rolls around. I decided to leave Sprint. Both my boyfriend and I decide to go to AT&T and get Iphones. Months later, around the beginning of January — in the mail I get a notice from Sprint saying I am months beyond on paying my bill and to please pay as soon as possible. Another screw up, big surprise. The amount comes to $249, which I assuming is an ETF and maybe some monthly charges.

What I want to know is, what is the best course of action to take? Please help!

I can’t beleive all you people want to switch carriers over twenty cents. You will be paying a lot more per month with most companies minute plans you switch to, so in the long run you will be paying a lot more than twenty cents per month and be locked into another two year contract. I personally think you all are pretty crazy for switching for something so petty. I guarentee you will be more upset when you get your first bill from another carrier and see that now you are paying $50 more a month rather than .20 more. Good luck.